2013-3e-2

THE DAILY TEXAN Serving the University of Texas at Austin community since 1900

@thedailytexan Editor’s note: This is the last print editon of The Daily Texan until Jan. 14, but go to dailytexanonline.com for breaking news and sports updates.

INSIDE 4 OPINiON

We asked UT students if they think their UT degree is a bargain.

5 NEWS

Departing senior staff members write last piece.

facebook.com/dailytexan

Friday, December 7, 2012

dailytexanonline.com

Longhorns preprare for Florida.

Holidy season gift guide.

LIFE&ARTS PAGE 16

SPORTS PAGE 10

SYSTEM

#TXLEGE2013

Regents OK joint S. Texas university

Bill provides education options for disabled cops

By Alexa Ura The UT System Board of Regents approved the creation of a new university in south Texas with an accompanying medical school that will be made up of UTBrownsville, UT-Pan American and the Regional Academic Health Center.

The proposed university,

which has not been officially named, was referred to as the University of the Americas in the Rio Grande Valley and would consolidate UT-Brownsville and UTPA but would maintain both campuses functioning for academic and research purposes. The new medical school will be known as the South Texas School of Medicine. An official

timeline for the establishment of the school has not been announced because of pending legislative approval.

The proposal received unanimous support from the regents during a meeting Thursday.

UT System chancellor Francisco Cigarroa presented the proposal to the board and said existing resources at UT-Brownsville and UTPA

will make establishing the larger university and medical school possible.

“I think we were thinking too small,” Cigarroa said.

“There are challenges in the UTPA region. The new structure will help reshape this.”

If created, the new university would enroll more than 27,000 students and

SOUTH continues on page 2

CAMPUS

NEWS

A video of a freshman staring at people on campus has gotten more than 50,000 hits on YouTube.

11 SPORTS

The NCAA is lagging behind on the fate of UT point guard Myck Kabongo.

15 LIFE & ARTS

TODAY Sing-Along

The Office of the President is hosting a free, campus wide “Songs of the Season” sing-along, presented by the choir of the Butler School of Music.

Hot chocolate will also be served. The event will take place from Friday noon to 1 p.m. in the West Mall.

Benefit Concert

The Butler School of Music is hosting a free, ‘Tis the Season’ benefit concert to help raise money for Austin Kent, a 24-year-old diagnosed with testicular cancer. The concert starts Friday from 7:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. at the University Christian Church.

Donations are encouraged but not required.

Today in history In 1941

On Friday, at 7:55 a.m., a Japanese dive bomber descended into the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor.

Many consider this attack as the final push needed for the United States to fully engage in World War II.

LBJ Library photo by Lauren Gerson A construction worker carries supplies down the staircase in the Great Hall of the LBJ Presidential Library. The library is in the final phase of a major redesign and will reopen on Dec. 22, which would have been Lady Bird Johnson’s 100th birthday.

New look, new tech LBJ Library opens new exhibits, will begin charging for admission

By Bobby Blanchard The Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library is getting a new look later this month — and it is coming with a price.

When the LBJ Presidential Library unveils its new exhibit Dec. 22, the library will begin charging admission. Anne

ahead

for higher ed?

By David Maly

Disabled law enforcement officers throughout the state may soon have more educational options available to them if a bill filed for the 2013 state legislative session passes.

Earlier this month, Sen. Judith Zaffirini, D-Laredo, filed a bill that would amend the state’s educational code to mandate a currently optional tuition and fee exemption for disabled law enforcement officers to take courses at public institutions of higher education.

Eligible officers must have resided in the state 12 months prior to the beginning of the semester or session, be permanently disabled from an injury suffered during work as a law enforcement officer in Texas or one of its political subdivisions and be unable to continue employment as a law enforcement officer because of the disability.

UT spokesperson Gary Susswein said UT currently offers the exemption, but no one has taken advantage of it in the

7

The final Pop Index.

what’s

Wheeler, spokesperson for the LBJ library, said admission will remain free for students, staff and faculty with a UT ID. Admission prices for others range from $3 to $8. Previously, the LBJ Presidential Library was the only one of 13 presidential libraries that offered free admission.

Admission to the Herbert

Our goal is for visitors to better understand this largely misunderstood president.

— Mark K. Updegrove, LBJ Library director Hoover Presidential Museum ranges from $3 to $6 while admission to the John F. Kennedy Museum ranges from $9 to $12.

Starting in December 2011, the library began undergoing a $10 million project by the Gallagher & Associates design

studio to offer more interactive, technological exhibits.

Mark K. Updegrove, LBJ Library director, said the redesign of the library will provide context to legislation passed during the Johnson administration.

LIBRARY continues on page 2

CAMPUS

UT student breaks into fashion industry

By Taylor Hampton Ross Bennett came to UT with the intention to become the next Bennett at his father’s law firm, but redesigned his future after taking a course in fashion design.

Ross Bennett, a local Austin designer and textiles and apparel senior, began his design career at UT in 2002. He left UT in 2006 and returned in 2008, but after entering his designs in the Dallas Career Fair he was sought by the Texas State Fair to design an

organic eco-friendly line. Opportunities in the fashion design profession led him to become a contestant on Fashion Star, an NBC fashion design reality TV show. This put his name into the industry and he was asked to design the grid girl uniform for the Circuit of Americas Formula One Race in November.

Bennett creates custom garments using fabrics made from natural fibers. He said his clientele consists mainly socialites

ROSS continues on page 9

Aaron Berecka | Daily Texan Staff Ross Bennet, designer of the Grid Girls uniform for Austin’s Formula One, speaks to senior undergraduates fashion design.

Your number one source for Longhorn Football Season Review and Bowl Preview as a special addition to The Daily Texan . December 7

COPS continues on page 2 FOOTBALL

Pres. Powers backs Brown’s position as head coach

By Christian Corona

UT president William Powers Jr. expressed his support for Longhorns head football coach Mack Brown on Thursday, ensuring everyone that his job security is not in question.

“Now that the Longhorns football team has finished its regular season, there has been an increase in media speculation about Coach Mack Brown’s future,” Powers wrote on his Tower Talk blog Wednesday afternoon. “I’d like to state unequivocally that Coach Brown has my full support as well as the support of Men’s Athletics Director DeLoss Dodds. Put succinctly, Mack Brown is and will remain the Longhorns’ head football coach.”

Brown has served as Texas’ head football coach since the 1998 season, going 149-43 (.776) in 15 years. After nine consecutive 10-win seasons, which included the program’s fourth national championship

MACK continues on page 9

Best Newspaper Marketing/Promotion Plan The Daily Texan KVRX Shirt Design Contest: Designed to increase listenership of our Student Radio Station, KVRX 91.7FM, the sales team devised a plan within the broadcast sales pod for a shirt design contest.

The student manager and two account executives created a house ad them selves promoting the contest and it ran in The Daily Texan for two weeks leading up to the launch. All of the entries that were submitted were posted on a specially created Tumblr account for KVRX and The Daily Texan via thumbnails. After one month of entries a winner was selected and unveiled at a Local Live release concert at a local venue. Shirts were printed and sold at the concert.

Special Edition House Advertisements: To promote the special edition tabloids of The Daily Texan, including Double Coverage Longhorn Football tabloid and Longhorn Life Student and Faculty life on campus publication, a series of house ads were run over the course of 2012. The ads themselves were comprised of pictures of the publication covers, the title of publication, and information on the publication and printing dates.

A-Frame Advertising: The student managers took it upon their selves to construct a-frame sandwich boards with the aim to promote the organizations media and special events in a different medium. They were placed in a high traffic area outside the office, which happens to be located next to the School of Communications. In one specific case we promote job openings, which allowed us to track the success rate of the a-frames.

Tailgate Event Self Promotion: Our tent for the Tailgate event had The Daily Texan emblem with banners hanging from it that supplied our logos of all the Texas Student Media entities. At the event, account executives passed out stacks of our special edition the “Double Coverage” to each individual tailgate. This helped increase our readership, especially at the event itself. In addition to handing out the “Double Coverage”, we also distributed cold towels in the Texas summer heat that bore the emblem of The Daily Texan. We also had a separate table designated to promoting our other entities, such as, our television station (TSTV) and our radio station (KVRX).

Orientation: At the six separate orientation events account executive ran a table, with our Texas Student Media banner, providing incoming freshman, transfers students, and parents with details of the organization. Bags with the front page of The Daily Texan printed on the outside were distributed to the students containing our client’s promotional items as well as a copy of The Daily Texan Orientation Edition.

Career Fair: Account Executives ran the table, with the TSM banner, to provide a job description for prospective student employees. This allowed us to collect resumes, and spread the brand name of TSM at another event.

10

SPORTS

Monday, March 19, 2012

WOMEN’S SWIMMING

Texas comes up short in final meet

Todd J. Van Emst | Associated Press

California proved too much for the Longhorns to handle at the NCAA Championships and the Golden Bears took home first place for the second time in as many years. It was Cal’s third title in four years.

By Rachel Thompson Daily Texan Staff

Texas finished in ninth place at this year’s NCAA Championships in Auburn, Ala., as California won its second title in a row.

Texas has finished in the top 10 in 11 of its past 13 seasons and capped off this year’s championships with 201 points and 20 All-America honors.

Swimmers Bethany Adams, Kelsey Amundsen, Karlee Bispo, Kelsey LeNeave, Ellen Lobb, Lily Moldenhauer, Katie Riefenstahl, Laura Sogar, Samantha Tucker and diver Diana Wilcox were all recognized for top 16 performances.

The Longhorns kicked off the meet on a strong note by breaking a school record in the 200 freestyle relay. Bispo, Adams, Lobb and Amundsen combined for a 1:27.65, outdoing the previous record of 1:28.06 set at last year’s NCAA Championships.

Senior Bispo finished a strong last season with 47 points at the end of the three-day meet, mak-

ing her the seventh highest individual scorer at the championships. Bispo broke school records in the 100 freestyle, 200 freestyle and 200 freestyle relay.

Bispo’s second place finish in Thursday’s 200 freestyle race was a mere second behind Georgia’s Megan Romano, who broke the NCAA record with a time of 1:41.21.

Junior Laura Sogar placed in the top eight in both breaststroke events this weekend and said the chemistry of the team provided moments of lightheartedness in what could have been a stressful atmosphere. “Any time I am with my teammates I have a good time,� Sogar said. “It was a good competition and we had some good swims. It was a lot of fun and a great experience.�

Bispo, Amundsen, Adams and Tucker earned sixth place in the 400 freestyle relay, clocking in at 3:14.41.

In the last race of her career as a Longhorn, senior Katie Riefenstahl swam for eighth place in the 200 backstroke consola-

tion B final, earning one point for the team. “I didn’t do what I wanted to do but at the end of the day what places I get in swimming don’t mean as much as the experience I have gotten from swimming and going to school at Texas,� Riefenstahl said. “I have so much more waiting for me and am excited for what is next.�

Diana Wilcox also picked up a team point in the platform diving consolation finals, tallying a score of 232.8 for eighth place. “I had a really good experience and learned a lot about myself and competing,� Wilcox said of her experience at the NCAA Championships. “I improved on some things and look forward to being better in the future.�

The meet capped off a tough but rewarding season, complete with the expected highs and lows but marked by determination and team dedication. “It was fun to battle and the team fought hard,� head coach Kim Brackin said. “I thought the team performed extremely well in an incredibly fast meet.�

YOUTH continues from PAGE 8 Big Dance. That gives the Longhorns confidence heading into next season.

UT will still be young when they take the court again in November.

Texas will have five freshmen, headlined by center Cameron Ridley from Fort Bend Bush in Richmond. “I feel good with where we are as a program right now because I know what we’ve got coming back and I know what we have coming in,� Barnes said.

Texas knows it won’t have forwards Clint Chapman and Alexis Wangmene. The fifth-year seniors enjoyed career highs in points and rebounds.

But it’s unclear if leading scorer J’Covan Brown will return for his senior season. Brown averaged 20.1 points, 3.8 assists and 3.4 rebounds in 34 starts.

The leading scorer in the Big 12, Brown showed the ability to play at the next level. The NBA is there for him should he choose to leave Texas. He has a daughter that will turn

FAILURES continues from PAGE 1

2 in July. “I’ll make the decision, talk to coach, talk to my parents and see what the best thing is for me,� said Brown, who scored in double-figures 32 times this year. “At the end of the day, I have a family to take care of.�

Freshman point guard Myck Kabongo will also have a decision to make regarding the NBA Draft in June.

In three of the last four NBA Drafts, three Longhorn point guards were selected in the first round: D.J. Augustin (2008), Avery Bradley (2010) and Cory Joseph (2011).

The Longhorns can build around swingmen Julien Lewis and Sheldon McClellan. Lewis started 25 games, the most for a freshmen other than Kabongo. McClellan averaged 11.3 points, second on the team. “Those two guys are extremely talented but they’re just learning how to play,� Barnes said. “Sheldon’s athletic ability is off the charts. I think both of those guys have a great future.�

Aren’t these Longhorns supposed to be the Joneses of the college sports block?

Turns out there are programs on campus that still run the streets, it’s just that few fans have taken notice.

Connie Clark’s No. 6 softball squad is a cool 23-2 though this first part of the season. The expectations were always high for this team, but after last year’s meltdown, no one predicted they’d play this well, this early. The only games the Longhorn softballers have lost all year were to the top two squads in the country. Her team boasts the best batter in the Big 12 in Lexy Bennett and conference-leading pitchers up-and-down the rotation.

Head coach Clark is up for a revised contract at the end of this season, and somewhere in that mix should be a thank you note and a cash bonus for her from the Longhorn Network. After all, the network is broadcasting 31 of the team’s games this season, and they are the only ones living up to the “Texas� hype.

There was once a time where the tower shined burnt orange every Saturday in the fall.

Lately, one of the only athletic programs increasing UT’s electric bill is the men’s swimming and diving team.

Coach Eddie Reese has laughed his way past conference competitors in the pool for 33 straight years, never losing a league title during that span.

He’ll take his No. 2 ranked squad to the NCAA championships this Thursday and it’d be wise to follow their times online through ESPN3 or on ESPNU, because if you blink, you just might miss them.

Those are just some of the sports that deserve their due from Texas fans.

So if you’ve been dragging your feet because Texas didn’t beat OU in the Cotton Bowl, or it busted your bracket this March, then quit it. You’ve got the No. 13 and 8 men’s and women’s tennis teams respectively, the topranked men’s golf team and many other programs that may not rake in the top-cash, but are cashing in on their real talent.

Pick your shoulders up friends. The Joneses still exist, and schools are still trying to keep pace, but perhaps you sulkers should too.

FUSSELL continues from PAGE 8 Fontenette and Anderson both averaged a shade under 12 points per game and are both a part of the 1,000-point club.

Gayle finishes her career as the all-time leading blocker in Texas history with 370 blocks.

One positive to take away from the Longhorns’ less than spectacular season is the fact that there is a tremendous amount of talent that is stashed away deep down on Goestenkors’ bench. And there’s more coming in this year’s recruiting class as well.

Freshman guard standout Cassie Peoples was limited to just six games this year after failing to heal properly after leg surgery last summer. Peoples was ranked as the No. 7 guard in her class by HoopGurlz.

Sophomore guard Shanice McKoy was also unable to play this season after undergoing reconstructive knee surgery in the summer.

McCoy played in 14 games in her freshman season.

Sophomore guard Tiffany Moore also played in just four games before her season was ended by a serious allergy problem.

Couple in the intermittent injuries of two more sophomores: lightning-quick guard Chelsea Bass and dominant (when healthy) post Cokie Reed, and you can start to understand the magnitude of the injury situation that befell the team this year.

Goestenkors has also hauled in two pretty massive recruits in 6-foot-7 post Imani Stafford and top guard Empress Davenport that will join the team. Both bring even more depth to the Texas roster.

Texas women’s athletic director Chris Plonsky has pledged to keep Goestenkors under her current seven-year contract that is set to expire in two seasons, but if Goestenkors doesn’t turn things around in a big way, she could be in jeopardy of losing what she has deemed her “dream job.�

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THE DAILY TEXAN Serving the University of Texas at Austin community since 1900

@thedailytexan

facebook.com/dailytexan

Wednesday, December 5, 2012

INSIDE 4 OPINiON

Why MyEdu sells students and professors short.

5 NEWS

6 SPORTS

Texas falls to Georgetown at Madison Square Garden.

10

Brown returns as vital member of offense.

Cheapo Records closes its doors Christmas Eve.

SPORTS PAGE 6

LIFE&ARTS PAGE 10

STATE

New caucus created for young Texans

By David Loewenberg

Scholars meet at UT to discuss digital advances in the biomedical field.

dailytexanonline.com

Students hoping to influence legislation during the upcoming legislative session may have an additional avenue to work through thanks to a new bipartisan caucus.

State Rep. Eric Johnson, D-Dallas, announced Friday the formation of the Young Texans Legislative

Caucus in the Texas House of Representatives. The caucus will track and promote legislation affecting the 58 percent of Texans below the age of 40. In the Texas Legislature, caucuses serve as bodies around which members can organize to address the needs of a specific party, group or demographic.

Johnson, 37, said the caucus will create an

organization through which young people, including college students, can voice their concerns and ideas on policies being discussed in the Legislature.

“This new caucus will serve as a natural outlet for student organizations seeking to directly engage with the legislature,” Johnson said. “The 1.4 million Texans in our higher education system are

overwhelmingly a part of our target age demographic and we will be reaching out to student groups across the state after we get the caucus organized.”

Preston Covington, director of UT Student Government’s state relations agency, said he welcomes the announcement of the new caucus especially as Student

Rep. Eric Johnson

CAUCUS continues on page 2

FOOD

D-Dallas

#TXLEGE2013

NEW KING IN THE HOLE

LIFE & ARTS

Missing and mourning the Hole Burger.

Zaffirini files outline of further loan specifics what’s

TODAY

for higher ed?

By Joshua Fechter

‘Hanging Garden’

The Center for East Asian Studies is hosting a free screening of the “Hanging Garden,” a contemporary Japanese film, on Wednesday from 6 to 8 p.m. The story follows the drama of an unusual family and the secrets they each hide from each other.

The screening will be in UNB 2.228.

Retirement Guidance

Attend a free financial seminar, hosted by Human Resource Services, entitled “How am I doing?” The seminar focuses on the future of your financial goals, specifically retirement. The seminar will be held in NOA 4.106A and you must register through TXCLASS to attend.

Orange Santa

Friends of Orange Santa is hosting a sausage wrap sale in order to raise money for children’s bicycles. These bicycles will be given as Orange Santa gifts to those in need. The event is free and located between 2200 and 2300 Speedway.

Today in history In 1933

The 21st Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified, bringing prohibition to an end. The state of Utah became the last needed state to achieve the threefourths majority necessary to ratify any amendment to the Constitution.

ahead

Marisa Vasquez | Daily Texan Staff Brian Takats, Taylor Weldon and Molly Richter eat at the newly opened East Side King on Guadalupe Monday afternoon. Local Chef Paul Qui’s fourth East Side King location is in the back room of Hole in the Wall, with a separate entrance that allows for patrons under 21.

Full story on page 10 CAMPUS

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

Leaders offer relaxation tips before finals

By Christine Ayala With the stresses of the last week of class and upcoming finals, students should make time for their personal care, according to the UT Counseling and Mental Health Center.

Center Associate Director Jane Morgan Bost said students often disregard their diets and sleeping patterns because of academic stress when they should be doing the opposite. She said students can focus better while studying if they continue with their normal routine rather than trying to go without sleep and increasing their caffeine intake.

“Sleep tends to be one of those things that goes out the window the fastest when students are stressed, but it’s generally not effective or efficient to pull an all-nighter,” Morgan Bost said. “Students should have a plan that’s broken down day to day so it is not overwhelming. They should try to stick to as regular a sleep routine and diet as they can so they can maximize the time

STRESS continues on page 2

Marisa Vasquez | Daily Texan Staff UT Law student Cody Wilson printed a plastic lower reciever of an AR-15 with a 3-D printer, attached it to a real gun and fired six rounds before the plastic piece broke.

Student aims for 3-D gun

By David Maly UT law student Cody Wilson said he is trying to decide between continuing with school and taking a break from UT and devoting more time to his increasingly successful efforts to revolutionize the gun industry.

Wilson has been working to create

digital files for guns that could be used with a 3-D printer, a piece of technology that converts digital designs into a solid, plastic form. On Saturday, his efforts materialized when he printed the lower receiver of an ArmaLite AR-15, a semiautomatic rifle. He then substituted it for

A bill in the state Senate seeks to improve a zero-interest loan program that forgives loans for students who complete their degrees in a timely fashion.

The B-On-Time loan program was established in 2003 by a bill written by state Sen. Judith Zaffirini, D-Laredo.

Zaffirini also authored the current bill to amend the program. The program provides zero-interest student loans that may be forgiven if students complete their degrees within four years for a four-year degree and five years for a five-year degree, maintain a 3.0 grade point average and do not exceed their degree plan by more than six credit hours.

In a statement issued to The Daily Texan, Zaffirini said the current legislation is a “shell bill,” meaning the bill does not include all intended elements and may be amended throughout the upcoming legislative session.

“Our goal is to ensure that more students who need help paying for college have access to this critical program,” Zaffirini said.

In its current form, the bill excludes students who attend community colleges and technical schools from the program. Zaffirini said the program has not been successful at two-year institutions because the program’s parameters are too narrow.

At UT, 954 students who enrolled in the B-On-Time program received an average loan of $5,955 during 2010-11, according to data provided by the Office of

LOAN continues on page 2 INSIDE

Read more lege that could fund a new engineering school on page 2.

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Find the latest news on the lives of longhorns in a special edition to the Daily Texan. December 5th

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California State Fullerton Marketing & Promotions plan 2012

The Daily Titan Newspaper Marketing & Promotions Plan

Being one of the most diverse universities in the nation with over 37,000 students, there are actually several challenges when it comes to getting students to pick up the paper.

Cal State Fullerton is largely a commuter school. Most of the students have part-time, fulltime jobs, or have families to take care of. For many of these students, their objective is to go to class and then go home. A large amount of the student population does not stay on campus and is not involved with organizations affiliated with CSUF; their priorities lie with their academics. These students simple are not aware of what wonders the Daily Titan can offer.

As the Promotions Director, it is my job to promote the Daily Titan newspaper to the students not only as a newspaper, but as an organization on campus that is dedicated to representing the student voice. To achieve this, the Daily Titan utilizes the ever-expanding world of social media, branding our newspaper, holding contests for the students, and creating collaborative promotions with both on-campus and off-campus groups.

In this marketing and promotions plan, I have included some more specific ways that we have tried to boost our readership, recognition, and overall quality of work.

2012 promotion calendar January: Back to school pack • First 3 people to email Promotions Director and say “Back to School” get a Daily Titan Swag Pack.

500 Likes • Random “like” gets a Nike “New Year New You” and Daily Titan Swag Prize Pack February: Discoverfest • Hand out promotional items • Follow Us Online/Upcoming Events” handbills • Raffle for those who follow/add/subscribe to us 700 Likes • Random “like” gets a Daily Titan Swag Prize Pack, $10 to Pinks Hot Dogs in LA, and 2 In-N-Out hamburger vouchers.

March: Coupon Book • Promoted local businesses with their coupons • Passed out to students around campus April: Food & Fashion Show • Biggest event of Spring 2012 semester. Outdoor fashion show with food and prizes.

May: 1,000 Likes • Random “like” gets 2 Universal Studios tickets.

August: Propel Fuels Gas Giveaway • First 100 people to email Promotions Director received free gas card to Propel Fuel stations.

September: Discoverfest • Hand out promotional items • Follow Us Online/Upcoming Events” handbills • Raffle for those who follow/add/subscribe to us October: iPad Giveaway Contest • iPad Giveaway Contest begins. Two step contest with three ways to enter. Ran until December.

November: Food & Music Festival • Biggest event of Fall 2012. Outdoor music festival with free food.

Coupon Book • Promoted local businesses with their coupons • Passed out to students around campus December: iPad Giveaway Contest • iPad Giveaway Contest ends. Winner chosen of all entrants who entered both steps.

Propel fuels To start the semester off big, we wanted to give students something we knew they all needed, especially being a commuter school. I got in contact with a natural gas company called Propel Fuels during the summer and was able to strike a deal with them. This deal would promote their business in exchange for gas cards. During the first weeklong issue of the semester, we had students email us with a special phrase and once they did so, we would give them free gas cards.

Win FREE GAS!

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Propel loves CSU Fullerton!â&#x20AC;?

Email this phrase to jkou@dailytitan.com past 10 AM every day this week!

1 lucky winner will win a $25 gas card!

20+ Winners each day get a $5 gas card!

Sponsored by the

1,000 Likes on Facebook In transitioning from our Friendâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s page to our Fan page, we offered prizes when we reached our like goals. Facebook had a limit of 5,000 friends and we also wanted to go forward with the push for businesses and organizations to have Like pages.

Since transitioning, we have gained nearly 1,500 likes but that was not an easy task. To push our friends to like our Like page, we held email contests where a post was made saying the first person to e-mail the Promotions Director would win free prizes that ranged from Universal Studios tickets to gas cards to meal vouchers.

ipad contest To promote our newly launched mobile app “Daily Titan,” we coincided the app with an iPad giveaway contest. We had two primary steps to the contest with three different ways to enter. To keep track of all the entrants, we asked for their CSUF email in each step with the assistance of Surveymonkey. com. Aside from placing print ads in our paper, we utilized our website with an online poll that asked the entrants a series of questions about the Daily Titan. We asked how many times they pick up our paper, what their favorite section to read is, and whether or not they have visited our website. Not only was it their submission to be entered into our contest, but we also received valuable feedback about our paper. We also used our Facebook with the adrax stands. We placed two adrax posters

around campus with a secret phrase, “Daily Titan Coupon Book,” to promote our upcoming coupon book. Students had to Facebook message our page with that special phrase and their CSUF e-mail.

We also used our Twitter in which entrants had to post a “Where You Like to Do It” photo, showing where they like to read our paper and playing off of a sexual innuendo that would spark interest in students to be creative. Students would direct message the @daily_titan Twitter with their CSUF e-mail address. Lastly, all those who had entered the contest with any of the steps above had to download our mobile app. We replaced one of our icons with a link to a Surveymonkey.com form merely asking for the CSUF e-mail address one last time. A winner was announced at the end of the semester.

Food & Music festival The Daily Titan wanted to promote themselves to the students with a more hands on approach so we held the very first Food & Music Festival. The Food & Music Festival showcased local businesses ranging from a local burger shop, to a record store, to an Italian ice stand, all while a local CSUF band played live music. The festival had a total of 9 clients in our central quad and it was a huge success in promoting both our clients as well as the Daily Titan to the students. Not only did our students enjoy it so much that they requested to have the festival every month but the clients were very pleased with the amount of business they received at the event. They had the chance to connect with the product that we are trying to sell to them, the students, and that was such a unique opportunity for our clients.

discover fest At the beginning of every semester, all the CSUF clubs and organizations have the opportunity to set up a table in the central quad to promote themselves. Twice a year, the Daily Titan has a table that gives out Daily Titan swag such as pens, mugs, t-shirts, and tote bags. Students have the opportunity to ask questions about the newspaper and can find out how to get involved. Students can also sign up to be on the Daily Titan writers e-mail list which keeps them up to date with the Daily Titanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s stories.

The Vidette Illinois State University Marketing Plan 2012

Summary

This was the first year The Vidette has had an official marketing team.

We decided the overall objective for the year was to raise awareness and readership of The Vidette. The general strategy for doing that was to find ways to get the paper in studentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s hands and our name in their ears.

In addition to having a few big events, we really focused on getting out on campus and telling students about The Vidette through Street Team Days. During our Street Team Days we tried finding ways to increase readership within the campus community by distributing papers and supplements.

The Vidette publishes eight different supplements per year, all with a different purpose. We focused much of our marketing efforts on raising awarness of monthly supplements by placing balloons on all the newspaper kiosks located on the quad as well as through Street Team Days. We also utilized social media, house ads in the newspaper and posts on The Vidette website for the promotion of special events.

We believe having a campus prescense and being the face of The Vidette has caused more students to pick up the newspaper. We conducted and promoted a readership survey in October where over 2,400 students, faculty and staff participated. We have been using the data collected to improve and better serve the campus community this upcoming year.

The team consisted of four students that became the face for The Vidette. We planned the events, partnered with clients, spoke with students on the quad and promoted our brand. Overall, the team is paving the way for marketing The Vidette for years to come.

2012 Marketing Calendar

August

Street Team Day: Participation in Passages Survival Guide Distribution: Golf Cart Event Street Team Day: Uptown Normal Sweet Corn Blues Festival Festival ISU Dunk Tank

September

Rental Guide Distribution: Golf Cart Event with realty companies

October

Homecoming Guide Distribution Street Team Days: Transfer Days Marketing Event: Costume Catwalk Street Team Day: Basketball Guide Distribution Distribution and Promotion of Readership Survey

November

Distribution of Insiders Guide

Golf Cart Marketing

Throughout the fall semester we had a total of four supplements to market. The first was the Survival Guide. We placed balloons on the newspaper kiosks the day the supplement was issued. In addition to that, we used what we called, “Golf Cart Marketing.” The day was spent driving around ISU’s quad distributing the Survival Guide while giving students a ride to class. This was extremely successful and created such a buzz on campus. When it was time to distribute the Birdhouse Rental guide we decided to use the golf carts again. We drove two six-seated carts and had the local realty companies sponsor the cart at different times throughout the day. This not only allowed us to get The Vidette in students hands, but it also gave the realtors a chance to talk with students about apartments that they offer.

Dunk Tank Event

The Daily Vidette DUNK YOUR FELLOW REDBIRDS! 10 : 0 0 -10 : 3 0 A

Andy Manno (SGA President)

10am to 4pm on the quad today only

10 : 3 0 -11: 0 0 A

Kyle Leonard (APO Business Fraternit y)

11: 0 0 -11: 3 0 P

Rob Izzaguire (Sig Ep Pres.)

11: 3 0 -12 : 0 0 P

Robert Olivieri (Lead Admission Ambassador)

12 : 0 0 -12 : 3 0 P

Bryan Dickson (PIKES Pres.)

12 : 3 0 -1: 0 0P

Grace Johnson (Editor in Chief - Videt te)

1: 0 0 -1: 3 0 P

Emily Gibson (Phi Sigma Sigma Pres.)

1:3 0 -2 :0 0P

K a t i e G r o u z a r d ( V i d e t t e M a r k e t i n g Te a m )

2:00-2:30P

Christina Bender (Videt te Ad Sales Manager)

2:30-3:00P

A l l y s o n C o r o n a ( V i d e t t e M a r k e t i n g Te a m )

3:00-3:30P

Katie Ries (PRSSA Pres.)

3:30-4:00P

K e l s e y M u r p h y ( V i d e t t e M a r k e t i n g Te a m )

Dunk someone and get entered for a chance to win a $25 meatheads giftcard! videtteonline.com

Festival ISU is one of the biggest events on campus. It is where nearly every Registered Student Organization and over 100 businesses from the Bloomington-Normal area gather on ISUâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s quad. This year The Vidette came out with a splash. Participants were given three chances to throw the ball at the bulls-eye to dunk the person in the tank. If they did, their name was entered into a drawing to win a Meatheads gift card. We had a wide array of student leaders in the tank, which attracted many students to participate.

Costume Catwalk

For Halloween we teamed up with one of our clients, Pub II, and put together a costume contest event titled, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Costume Catwalk.â&#x20AC;? A catwalk was set up in the Pub II that 30 people walked to show off their costumes. We had three judges that chose the top three costumes of the night. The crowd chose Quailman as the winner and the Pub II awared him with $300.

Throughout the night Pub II distributed Daily Vidette keeper cups.

Street Team Days

Anytime we handed out The Vidette or were on campus to talk with students we would call it a Street Team Day. On average we had one Street Team Day per week. For every Street Team Day we posted up in a different location on ISUâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s quad or in the Normal community. Most times we would have additional promotional items to pass out. While passing out our Homecoming Guide we gave away colorful Daily Vidette glasses. Reggie Redbird helped us pass out the ISU Basketball guide while also giving students the oportunity to take pictures with him.

2

NEWS

Monday, December 10, 2012

Daily Vidette

University & Locust | Campus Box 0890 | Normal, IL 61761-0890

Readership Survey 10 The Daily Vidette is published daily Monday through Friday every week, except for final examinations, holidays, and semester breaks. Students are responsible for the content of the Daily Vidette. The views presented do not necessarily represent, in whole or part, those of the Illinois State University administration, faculty, and students.

TODAY

December

Subscriptions are available by mail to anywhere in the United States for $150 per calendar year.

Editor

5:30 p.m.

E-Day Kick Off & Team Up Event, Alumni Center

STAFF LIST Editor in Chief

8 p.m.

Study Jams Late Night Breakfast, Student Services Building 375

5 p.m.

Study Jams, Student Services Building

The Daily Vidette is a member of the Associated Collegiate Press and the Illinois Press Association.

DIRECTORY

3:30 p.m.

Campus Recreation Finals Rec-Tacular, Student Fitness Center

Web Designer

Johnson Kelley The readership Grace survey wasAustin a huge marketing initiative p.m. Janu10 a.m. this year.5 In Art Director Social Media Manager Study Jams, Wellness Massage, 309.438.8742 Michael Ater Michelle Waxberg Student Services Building Faculty Commons, BSC ary 2013 the Daily Vidette was redesigned and transformed into The Vidette.

In 11 3:30 p.m.

Business News Editors Ad Sales Manager 309.438.5929 Megan Maginity Christina Bender an effort to obtain as manyAd people to take the survey as possible we worked Campus Recreation Finals Logan Zimmerman Classifieds Production Rec-Tacular, Manager 309.438.7685 Features Editors Student Fitness Center We posted fliwith multiple departments as well as University Marketing.

Dan McCall Erin Hogg News Ariana Taylor 4 p.m.

Business Manager 309.438.2882 ers in every building on campus appear on University TV Campus Recreation Climbing Corie Schave and also had them Sports Editors Features Wall Games, Emily Warner Office Manager 309.438.8746 Student Fitness Center screens.

We had two University-wide email blasts as well as multiple posts Tawni Ricketts Karina Palukaitis Sports Photo Editors Business Adviser 309.438.3723 on social media.

We had 2,466 students, faculty and staff take the survey, Melanie Kaplan Erika Wilkerson Facsimile Brian Jarocki 6 p.m.

Systems Manager 309.438.5211 Starting Your Business in Illinois of the survey which is just about 10% of ISUâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s two weeks Night Editors Elias Wrightam population. After Seminar, Caitlin Perry 12 State Farm Hall of Business 430 General Manager being available,August weCassens randomly chose a participant to win an iPad. The inforJohn Plevka 6:30 p.m.

Project Solo Recitals, us in coming up mation we gained has been extremely helpful and String has aided Cook Hall 305 and 308 with new ways to reach students, such as our new app we are launching on January 28, 2013.

309.438.8745

TUESDAY

Advertising

December

WEDNESDAY December

To request the addition of an event to the Campus Events calendar, call the news desk at 309.438.2882

For more information, visit www.calendar.ilstu.edu

Copyright Š The Daily Vidette 2012

S N O I T A L U CONGRAT LIR JESSICA UH

IDETTE THE DAILY V SURVEY READERSHIPR! E IPAD WINN

The Daily Vidette would like to thank all who participated in our readership survey.

Your feedback is helping us deliver the news students want to hear!

MIN NES OTA DA ILY BEST NEWSPAPER MARKETING/PROMOTION PLAN Entry 3e.

Entering 2012, our Marketing department wanted to accomplish the basic goals of all newspapers: •Increase print readership •Increase online viewership •Create greater awareness about our organization •Boost our business’s image through positive public relations on and near campus However, in order to accomplish these four generic goals, we decided to take a step further. We analyzed the strengths of our organization, and realized even with our many accomplishments and traditions as the largest student-run newspaper in the nation, we could still use a lot of progress towards truly achieving each of these goals. Therefore, we embarked on the five following missions:

Rebranding our paper as a modern necessity.

Through our market research and experiences on campus, we found that many readers of all ages found the physical newspaper as at least somewhat archaic. Many of these readers preferred to follow us on social media and view news content online. Yet, many non-readers weren’t aware of our website, nor were aware of our social media presence. This information was vital in our decision to launch a new, more user friendly website in February, and has led to many new marketing initiatives. Our approach included creating a number of new events to capitalize on current events both on and off campus. Also, in order to demonstrate a modern appeal to current and prospective readers, we engaged in a number of media trades and partnerships with other organizations. We handed out promotional items specific to the time and nature at which they were distributed, such as the 4/20 Giveaway, and holistically got more involved on and around campus. One specific event that we did as a result of this mission was to host an Election Day Party at Stub and Herbs, an on-campus bar since 1939. More information is on page 6. Overall, these initiatives allowed current and prospective readers to interact with us in many new ways, and in a fashion that directly related to their current realities.

Increase interaction with readership.

Another finding was that the University of Minnesota community saw itself as distanced from the work of The Minnesota Daily. As a result of this, we created more means of interaction with students, faculty, staff, and campus visitors. Historically, we have done the Housing Fair, Grapevine Awards Fair, and other annual events to interact with readers. However, we wanted to do much more this year so we did various giveaways, photo contests, and other interactive events such as Golf Carts Rides to Class and the Game Issue Event. One campaign that we did to increase interaction with readership was our Gopher Pride series. More information is on page 7.

1

Develop a strong relationship with incoming students, particularly freshmen.

Naturally, incoming students have the longest customer lifespan (aside from some faculty and staff). They are likely to attend the University of Minnesota for 3-5 years, and may attend graduate school here afterwards. Therefore, we took on a number of marketing initiatives to specifically target incoming freshmen such as Welcome Week Jeopardy, Gophers after Dark Tie Dye. One event in particular that we did to gain traction with new students was the Superblock BBQ, which was on the first Thursday of classes, and was located in the middle of the freshmen residence hall cluster. More information is on page 8.

Remind older students, as well as faculty and staff, of our presence on campus.

In appealing to incoming students, we also didn’t want to lose the interest of older readers.

Therefore, we made sure to post on Facebook information relevant to all readers regardless of age, as well as get a variety of media trade items to appeal to older students and campus employees. One event that we did in particular was the Bar & Beer Guide Launch Party. More information is on page 9.

Implement a new social media strategy.

We felt that in the past, there wasn’t a consistent strategy utilized for social media posts. Because we had over 500 followers on our MN Daily Promos Twitter, we decided to keep this account live.

However, we took down the old marketing page and put up our new MN Daily Promos Facebook page. We now use a content calendar to determine when posts occur (both date and time of posts) and what they’re about. We used these accounts to directly interact with our followers in a new way. We put up photos from Get Caught Reading and ran contests and giveaways through these accounts. One giveaway that we’d like to highlight is Daily Cheer. This campaign is explained in greater detail on page 10.

With these five missions in mind, we have prevented a cut in print circulation, which many other student newspapers around the nation saw this year. At the same time, we saw an increase in unique visitors to mndaily.com by more than 50,000 in 2012 compared to 2011. Overall, we believe that we took a holistic approach to increase our community’s awareness of the services that we offer to them all, and have boosted our business’s image through the positive public relations that occurred as a result of our new events and marketing initiatives, and the continuation of old ones.

Please see our calendar on the next page to see all of our marketing initiatives in 2012 to complete our five missions.

2

SEPTEMBER

JANUARY 01/31/12

Spring Activities Fair

FEBRUARY Every Wednesday

Wild Wednesdays

2/1/12-2/13/12

Dr. Date Night

2/11/12

New website launch

2/28/12

Qdoba Daily Deal

MARCH 3/6/12

Housing Fair

3/8/12

Grapevine Awards Fair

Explore U Fair

Every Thursday

Get Caught Reading

09/03/12

New Student Office Tours

09/03-09/05

Golf Cart Rides to Class

09/06/12

Superblock BBQ

Every Other Wednesday Coffee + Paper 09/20/12

Paint The Bridge

09/20/12

Great Ticket Giveaway

09/25/12

Pitch Perfect Trade

09/28/12

B&B Launch Party

9/10/12

Gopher Pride Series

OCTOBER

APRIL-MAY 4/20/12

4/20 Giveaway

JUNE Every Wednesday

Get Caught Reading

06/18/12

MN Daily Promos Launched

JULY Every Wednesday

Get Caught Reading

Every Wednesday

Varsity Theater Giveaways

Every Wednesday

St. Paul Saints Giveaways

Every Wednesday

Whereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s MOE

Every Other Wednesday Coffee + Paper Every Thursday

Get Caught Reading

10/11/12

Homecoming Parade

10/11/12

Homecoming Giveaway

10/01/12-10/31/12

Fall Readership Survey

10/25/12

Great Ticket Giveaway

-10/26/12

Gopher Pride Series

10/31/12

Halloween Costume Contest

NOVEMBER

AUGUST Every Wednesday

Get Caught Reading

08/17/12

Mickey Hart Band Giveaway

08/31/12

Welcome Week Jeopardy

08/31/12

09/01/12

Gophers after Dark Tie Dye

11/1/12

October Highlights (FB)

Every Other Wednesday Coffee + Paper Every Thursday

Get Caught Reading

11/06/12

Election Day Party

11/15/12

Game Issue Event

11/29/12

SOTA Giveaway

11/26/12-

Holiday Cheer

DECEMBER

3

12/1/12

Nov. Highlights (FB)

12/06/12

Coffee + Paper

12/12/12

Daily Cheer

CALENDAR KEY Spring Activities Fair: University-wide fair where we handed out MN Daily branded items.

Wild Wednesdays: Facebook trivia contests where winners received Minnesota Wild tickets.

Dr. Date Night: Contest where participants submitted their most awkward dating stories. The winner was awarded a date in Dinkytown on The Minnesota Daily through a media trade.

New Website Launch: Renewed our websiteâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s look at mndaily.com.

Qdoba Daily Deal: We partnered with our on-campus Qdoba where customers who brought in a Minnesota Daily paper would receive a free chips and queso with the purchase of a burrito.

Housing Fair: Annual fair to deepen our relationship with classified clients and provide students the opportunity to explore all housing options on and near campus.

Grapevine Awards Fair: Annual fair to deepen our relationships with retail clients and allow students to vote for their favorite businesses on and near campus.

4/20 Giveaway: Branded sunglasses, bottle openers, and other 4/20 relatable items were handed out around campus

by Minnesota Daily staff.

Get Caught Reading: People caught reading the newspaper get a photo with our mascot, MOE, and are entered to have that photo in the newspaper. Photos are also put on our MN Daily Promos Facebook page.

MN Daily Promos Facebook Page: In an effort to help rebrand our organization, we launched a new marketing-based Facebook page. This gave our entirely new marketing staff a completely fresh start on Facebook.

July and August Giveaways: To promote our new Facebook page using trivia, we engaged in media trades with the Mickey Hart Band, the Varsity Theater, a theater in Dinkytown, and the St. Paul Saints baseball team.

Welcome Week Jeopardy: We hosted a session for incoming students teaching them about The Minnesota Daily and its relevance to the surrounding community.

Gophers after Dark Tie Dye Event: We did a media trade with a local shirt printer to receive 300 shirts which were tie-dyed by new students at the First Gophers After Dark event, which was held at our student union.

Explore U Fair: We handed out MN Daily swag bags filled with branded items to over 200 students new to campus.

New Student Office Tours: We showed incoming students all of the opportunities that employment at The Minnesota Daily could offer them while a student.

Golf Cart Rides to Class: We provided golf cart rides and the newspaper to hundreds of students while getting them across the Mississippi River.

4

Superblock Barbeque: More information on page 8.

Coffee + Paper: We partnered with a local coffee shop to hand out coffee for about 150 people with the paper.

Paint the Bridge: We painted three panels of the Washington Avenue Bridge, which connects East Bank and West Bank, with information on our organization. It will be up until fall 2013.

Great Ticket Giveaways: Media trades with First Avenue to award readers with tickets.

Pitch Perfect Trade: Partnership with Universal Studios to receive and award Pitch Perfect items and 250 tickets to a pre-release showing at a local theater.

Bar & Beer Guide Launch Party: More information on page 9.

Gopher Pride Series: More information on page 7.

Whereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s MOE: Contest where a picture of our mascot is placed in the newspaper. Contestants report his page number to our social media or email to enter a raffle to win media trade items.

Homecoming Giveaway: Branded sunglasses, bottle openers, and other Thursday-of-Homecoming-Week relatable items were handed out around campus by staff.

Homecoming Parade: Over a dozen employees handed out our Homecoming Issue paper and branded items to thousands of spectators.

Halloween Costume Contest: Contestants submitted photos of their Halloween costume. The most unique photos ended up in the newspaper.

Monthly Facebook Highlights: Starting with October 2012, we have begun a monthly tradition of recapping the previous monthâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s events with a photo album on our MN Daily Promos page.

Election Day Party: More information on page 6.

Game Issue Event: We partnered with a local Caribou Coffee and a local bakery to hand out our Game Issue and donuts on the day of its publication.

SOTA Giveaway: Media trade with a locally owned and operated clothing line. We gave out 180 SOTA Pride shirts to readers.

Daily Cheer: More information on page 10.

5

ELECTION DAY PARTY

Rebranding our paper as a modern necessity.

Being an election year, it was only natural with our mission of rebranding The Minnesota Daily as a modern necessity for us to reinforce our editorial coverage with a promotional event. Therefore, we decided to host an event focused on the election at a local business. We explored many options, but ultimately decided on Stub and Herb’s, a local restaurant and bar, due to its welcoming atmosphere for readers of all ages, and their current status as a loyal client of The Minnesota Daily. We struck the following exchange: Stub and Herb’s provided: • Main room without usual Tuesday night comedians o All 8 TVs with election coverage showing • $3 on select taps from 7:00pm-close • Half off on wings and fries all night The Minnesota Daily provided: • Promotional activities via the newspaper, mndaily.com, social media, and around campus • “Daily Swag” to hand out (300 of the following: bottle openers, cozies, daily cards) • Contest where contestants guessed the number of electoral votes for each candidate o Winner received one month of Core Power Yoga or two Wild Mountain lift tickets • Election based trivia for two hours of the event o Omnitheater tickets and other small prizes were awarded to winners

Minnesota Daily staff hosted the event from 8pm-1am, interacting with over 100 attendees.

6

GOPHER PRIDE SERIES Increase interaction with readership

Historically, we’ve done some big events, and also done various campaigns designed to promote specific parts of The Minnesota Daily. However, we had never done something continuous to promote the organization as a whole. Thus, the Gopher Pride Series was born. This series started mid-September and ran through the end of October. Methods of reader interaction: 1. Six Poster Series. Each Wednesday for six weeks, the inside two pages of the paper were made of a color image that was based off of a part of campus. At the end of the six weeks, readers could put the images together, and it would form the shape of Minnesota. They could bring these six sheets to our office, and redeem a media trade prize.

2. Wildfire Giveaway. We used a Wildfire application on Facebook to host a giveaway where readers could boast their gopher pride. Contestants could then invite their friends to vote photos up or down. Thousands of votes were cast, and the top three voted photos received the following media trade prizes:

a.First Place – Student season hockey ticket.

b.Second Place – Pride pack consisting of gopher fan gear.

c.Third Place – Three $20 gift cards to different Dinkytown restaurants.

3. Fan of the Week. Readers could send a photo of themselves to us via social media or email. Each week, one employee-voted photo would be placed in the newspaper and two were even posted on our MN Daily Promos Facebook page.

4. Organic Facebook Promotions. The submissions from the Wildfire Giveaway and Fan of the Week were used to strengthen our presence on social media.

5. Paid Facebook Advertising. For the first time ever, The Minnesota Daily ran paid Facebook advertisements to promote itself, reaching hundreds of new readers.

A MN Daily Promos Facebook post that was made up of a few of the Wildfire submissions.

7

SUPERBLOCK BBQ

Develop a strong relationship with incoming students The Superblock is a cluster of four freshmen residence halls on campus. On the first Thursday of the academic year, we hosted a barbeque from 11am-2pm near the Superblock’s center. We fed over 200 new students to the university in the three hour span. Our staff made an effort to interact with every attendee, offering them all a newspaper, talking to them while pouring a solo cup from our root beer keg, and explaining how accessible the paper was around campus and what it offered them. We also gave them Minnesota Daily Swag Bags consisting of branded:

• Water bottles • Bottle Openers • Coupon cards with deals all around campus (Daily Cards) • Employee magnets • Cozies

Our Finance Controller grills up some hot dogs and veggie burgers as two other staff members interact with a group of new students.

8

BAR AND BEER GUIDE LAUNCH PARTY Remind people of our presence

The majority of our university community is 21+, so we chose to create an event to cater specifically to the older readers on campus. Looking at the publication calendar, we decided to promote our Bar & Beer Guide special publication through a new on campus event. We reached out to a sales client and local bar, Burrito Loco, and set up a “complete take over” plan for the night of Thursday 9/27. Burrito Loco offered one-night-only “Daily Shots”, and let us hand out the B&B Guide B-Section along with Daily Cards and branded bottle openers on its ground floor. Furthermore, we held a raffle for Zombie Pub Crawl and Bassnectar tickets. Over 250 attendees entered the contest.

MN Daily Promos Facebook post on Thursday 9/27.

9

DAILY CHEER

Implement a new social media strategy In order to get the maximum traction on our MN Daily promos social media pages, we wanted to constantly incorporate their usage wherever they could add value to our readers’ experiences with The Minnesota Daily. However, we never wanted them to distract readers from picking up the newspaper or visiting mndaily.com. So, we developed a Wildfire application based contest on Facebook that compounded over the time span of 11 print newspaper issues. Starting Monday 11/26, we placed promo codes in the print paper on a daily basis. Readers could take these codes and enter on Facebook to win prizes. The more promo codes a reader entered, the greater the chance that she/he would win that day’s prize. Over 100 individuals entered the giveaway. Daily Cheer winners received the following prizes (mostly media trade items): Monday 11/26 – Thursday 11/29: $25 Weisman Art Museum Shop Gift Cards Monday 12/3 – Thursday 12/6: $25 University Dining Services Gift Cards Monday 12/10: Two Christmas Carol Tickets at Guthrie Theater Tuesday 12/11: Set of Four Wild Mountain Lift Tickets and Ski/Snowboard Rentals Wednesday 12/12: Winter Break Pack (10 Wild Mountain Lift Tickets, 2 Months of Core Power Yoga Membership, $25 Erbert and Gerbert’s gift card, Two Papa John’s Pizza Vouchers)

The Thursday 11/22 promotional newspaper advertisement placed to educate readers how to enter the giveaway on the MN Daily Promos Facebook page.

10

2012

PROMOTION PLAN

READERSHIP • ONLINE VIEWERSHIP • COMMUNITY AWARENESS

UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT ARLINGTON

SUMMARY

of

University of Texas at Arlington’s newspaper, The Shorthorn, has been student-run and published since 1919 and online since 1997. Developing through the years, The Shorthorn has become a newspaper with several thousands of readers weekly. Trending with the growth of readership is the growth of enrollment. UT Arlington has had four consecutive years of growth in enrollment, peaking at nearly 33,500 students. In order to keep up with the growing student body, The Shorthorn’s key challenge for this year is to successfully launch the new e-media tools and inform the students and the Arlington community of its availability. The Shorthorn must find a way to keep in touch with readers and with technology in this digital age.

The Shorthorn has gone beyond the limits of a traditional newspaper to communicate to today’s students of UTA and our community. The theme for the new reinvented Shorthorn is “The NEWs FRONTIER.” In the past, The Shorthorn has always published the newspaper four times a week, Monday through Thursday. Starting this semester, only one issue a week is printed on Wednesdays. Due to the reduction of print issues, The Shorthorn must build a stronger awareness for digital aspects in regards to daily news. For instance, The Shorthorn has an e-newsletter that is emailed

OUR PLAN to subscribers everyday.

There are apps available to the Android and iPhone users for updated news feeds and events. The Shorthorn has a Facebook and Twitter that is used to connect with followers or potential followers outside of campus. The Shorthorn uses social media as a powerful tool to connect users and bring awareness for our upcoming events. The Shorthorn also has a website that was reformatted to be compatible with desktops, tablets, and mobile phones.

NEWS

ENTERTAINMENT

CALENDAR

SPORTS

MULTIMEDIA

OPINION

CLASSIFIEDS

MAPS

GAMES

.com @ 1

WHAT WE DID IN 2012 This semester,

The Shorthorn wanted to make as many public appearances as possible in order to create more promotion opportunities and reach out to the students and Arlington community. In order to do this, purchases were made to accommodate outdoor activities as well as “giveaways” to attract new readers.

The Shorthorn started the semester strong by attending many of the universities “welcome week” events including the Mavs Meet Convocational & After Party, Wet & Wild, and the Mavs Cookout and Activities Fair. At each of these events The Shorthorn set up a tent where students could come by, learn about the paper and what The Shorthorn offers as well as spin our new prize wheel to win “Shorthorn Swag”.

participating in live polling through a text message service as well as through the Shorthorn’s twitter page and #UTAElect2012. There were 230 attendees who enjoyed the debate while enjoying free popcorn and drink.

After the success of Welcome Week, The Shorthorn’s first Big Launch Event took place, and had a great turn out. The event consisted of six booths which represented different sections of the paper (News, Sports, Opinion, Life & Entertainment, Ads, Photo) and at each booth you could learn about each section and receive a prize. After visiting at least 3 different booths you are able to spin the prize wheel and have a chance to win one of our Shorthorn T-shirts among several other prizes. The event included free snacks, drinks, and live music performed

by UTA’s local band Kites and Boomerangs.

We promoted this event through the use of house ads, rack cards, fliers, and our newly established E-newsletter. The event was a huge success and we hope to make it an annual event.

Special to this year being an election year, The Shorthorn teamed up with the campus’s Honor College to bring the final debate watch party. The event was held in a large auditorium with a big screen projector. Students were able to come by and watch the debate while

2

During the basketball season, Shorthorn T-shirts are handed out whenever a 3-point shot is made. With the start of the basketball season comes UTA’s homecoming events, which offers many more Shorthorn promotion opportunities. The Shorthorn participates in the parade during homecoming, handing out Shorthorn megaphones, basketball stress balls, and rally towels. Along with the parade, The Shorthorn also made a presence in the Party on Pecan Street Fair, allowing students to take 3 shots at our basket for chances to win prizes. Almost 3000 homecoming issues along with our special edition basketball preview guides were placed on the stadium’s seats before the homecoming game began.

The Shorthorn’s promotions do not stop there. By having a table set up once a week in various locations, we are able to continue to collect E-Newsletter subscriptions as well as App downloads. With all the focus on the new E-media we did not want students to forget about our print issue! One of our week to week promotions, “You’ve been spotted,” which gave students prizes when The Shorthorn spotted them reading the print issues allowed us to do just that. Shorthorn Marketing promotes our print issues by handing them out all over campus as well as promoting the special issues, which include our Fall Back to School issue, Safety Guide, Election Guide, Basketball Preview, Homecoming issue, Finals Madness, and our Fall Graduation issue. With these special issues having exclusive print edition content only, The Shorthorn makes promotion on these a top priority.

The Shorthorn’s website was launched in 1997, although this year it has gone through a complete new layout change. This year with the update to The Shorthorn website it has also become optimized for mobile devices as well as tablet format so that our on-the-go readers can benefit from all the website has to offer. Due to the efforts put into customizing The Shorthorn’s website to be accessible in so many ways and through promotional events we started the semester with a peak of 1,538 views and were able to end the semester with a peak of 8,613 views.

3

The Shorthorn newsletter is sent to the readers daily. The newsletter offers quick summaries in its links for those looking for current daily news. By linking the top headline stories with descriptions of each, directly to the online article, readers are able to quickly find the news they are looking for. Since starting the E-newsletter this semester, the open rate and usage rate has greatly increased. Early in the semester we had anywhere between 479-578 opens and by the end of the semester we had between 5149-7303 opens.

The Shorthorn app is designed in mind for the person who is on-the-go. The apps have twelve icons for each topic linking to the online sections. The Shorthorn app is a pocket version of our website that our readers can quickly get the important benefits of our website through an easy to use app. Rack cards are placed on all of our on campus racks in order to promote all special issues as well as major events. The most successful rack card this semester promoted the launch of our app for Android and iPhone users. The Shorthorn app had a few issues when it was first released and because of that was not released until later in the semester, we were

able to counter the late start with major promotions specifically tailored to app downloading and the success of our rack cards, we managed to end the semester with 1263 downloads between the iOS and Android phones.

The Shorthorn began the semester with low numbers in all of our new E-Media. We determined that our target was to increase our numbers on all levels. By promoting the new additions and our printed issues at events throw-out the year, we were able to raise awareness and increase readership. We managed to increase our numbers by great amounts in all levels including E-Newsletter, app, and even our website. After looking back at the semester, we can say that we not only reached our goals and targets but also surpassed them.

4

AUGUST

EVENTS CALENDAR

Mavs Meet Convocation & After Party

• Shorthorn E-Newsletter signup • 500 Shorthorn bags donated

Wet & Wild

• Shorthorn E-Newsletter signup

Maverick Cookout/Activity Fair Day • Shorthorn E-Newsletter signup

Special Issues

• Fall Back-to-School

SEPTEMBER

News Frontier Launch Party

OCTOBER

•B and (Kites & Boomerangs) played, spin the wheel games, prizes • Shorthorn promotion and awareness

Special Issues

• Guide to Downtown

Bed Races

• Mav Pics Promotion

Presidential Debate Watch Party

• Students able to easily watch the debate • Shorthorn Twitter promotion; students tweeted their comments about the debate

Fall Fest & Concert

• App Promotion

Special Issues

• Dining Guide • Election Guide

NOVEMBER Homecoming

• Party on Pecan (App/Shorthorn promotion) • Homecoming Parade (Shorthorn awareness)

Preview Day Activity Fair

• Shorthorn promotion and awareness

DECEMBER Transfer Orientation

Special Issues

• Homecoming • Basketball Preview

• Shorthorn promotion and awareness • New students have the opportunity to familiarize themselves with The Shorthorn

Special Issues

• Finals Madness • Fall Graduation

5

[PROMOTIONAL PIECES]

WE

DIGITAL

• news • calendar • deals

download our app!

RACK CARD PROMOTING OUR APP

been you’ve ed! spott

JANIC BINDA

PSYCHOLOGY JUNIOR

KETBALL & WHEELCHAIR BAS TEAM MEMBER

: FAVORITE SECTION

SPORTS

reading The Shorthorn

DANIELLE LOYOLA NURSING JUNIOR

FAVORITE SECTION:

OPNION

LET US CATCH YOU READING THE SHORTHORN FOR A CHANCE TO WIN PRIZES!

YOU’VE BEEN SPOTTED AD

6

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COOL KIDS READ THE NEWS. NEWS

ENTERTAINMENT

CALENDAR

SPORTS

MULTIMEDIA

OPINION

CLASSIFIEDS

MAPS

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wednesday september 5

POSTER PROMOTING OUR DIGITAL FRONTIER

EXPLORE

uc mall

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learn about the shorthorn’s new publishing strategy.

11am - 1pm .com

giveaways live music snacks

sponsored by the department of student publications. 817-272-3188

POSTER PROMOTING OUR LAUNCH EVENT

7

honors college

presents

presidential

debate

watch party sponsored by the shorthorn

october 22, 2012 pm

7:30 lone star

auditorium â&#x20AC;˘ mac popcorn & refreshments provided

POSTER PROMOTING THE PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE PARTY

8

Best Newspaper Marketing/Promotion Plan The State News With all the advertising that students are exposed to today, businesses need to find a way to break through the clutter. Marketing is moving toward engagement and it is easy to see why; engagement is attractive to audiences, especially college students, and the interactivity of engagement makes the business or brand more memorable to the viewer. This barely scratches the surface of engagement strategies but these two points are precisely what The State News aims for with the Best of MSU program and other marketing projects. The Best of MSU is a special promotion that starts in January and lasts through the majority of the spring semester.

The State News develops marketing strategies that allow us to focus on engaging the student body, while exposing them to local businesses in East Lansing. Our programs work to promote local businesses and local advertisers, as well as promoting The State News as a brand all its own.

How It Worked Our goal with the Best of MSU was to get students to vote for their favorite businesses in East Lansing and the greater Lansing area; more broadly, our goal was to engage students in the area while driving traffic to our website and brand awareness. In January, The State News launched a pre-voting ad campaign that consisted of house ads that asked students what restaurant is the best? What clothing store is their favorite? The ads told students to decide what businesses are the best by voting in February at statenews,com/bestof.

On the first of February, The State News opened a new segment of its website for the Best of MSU. Students could go online and vote for their favorite restaurant, salon, bookstore, bar, etc. The site offered over 50 categories of businesses from the local area. At this time, The State News launched the next segment of the ad campaign; we promoted voting through house ads, AdRax and posters, Twitter and Facebook updates and web ads. Our voting was also connected to Facebook, so when a student voted their Facebook would show that they voted on statenews.com for their favorite businesses. This helped us reach even more students. We created special advertising packages for local businesses that wanted to promote their business during the month of voting. These packages included four print ads in the paper, a coupon ad sent to voters, web ads, their business name listed on the voting ballot and a large poster to hang in their store or office. The posters told their customers that they were participating in the Best of MSU and asked customers to vote for them.

Throughout voting, you could walk down Grand River Avenue and see Best of MSU posters hanging in nearly every window.

Voting lasted for the entire month of February; we received over 33,000 votes, which is a huge success for this program's second year. We saw an increase in student participation of

46.9% from the previous year. In March we began the third segment of the program: the “postvoting campaign”. Using the same media as the first two segments, we encouraged students to come back to the web site at the end of the month to view the winners. The first week in April we published all of the winners in a special edition of the paper; we printed the winners’ name, address, a brief description of the business, and the category that they had won. Many businesses thanked students for voting for them. We also raffled off two free ads to two of the winning businesses. At the end of it all, The State News awarded certificates to all of the winners. Today, those certificates still hang behind the winners’ counters and mark their achievements recognized by MSU students.

What It Does for The State News The Best of MSU was originally designed to increase readership, but it expanded into a complicated program that reached deeper into the community and presented The State News as an engaging resource for students and a supporter of local business. The Best of MSU brought students to our paper and to our website. Our online readership increased by 30,898 readers from January to February. Our total number of visits increased by 22% from the previous year. More importantly, the increased visits to our website stay consistent in the following months. This program showed students that The State News is more than just a newspaper; it is a relevant resource to them and that we are interested in their opinion.

Furthermore, we are willing to publish our readers' opinions and point-of-view, which helps drive readers.

What It Does for the Community East Lansing has a unique downtown area with many local and fair trade businesses; it has always been important to The State News to show support to its' fellow downtown businesses.

The Best of MSU program showed support for the businesses and the members of the community by creating a friendly competition that provided businesses with publicity.

Businesses that won felt appreciated by the community and those who loss were happy to be considered one of the best. Even though businesses were competing against one another for the attention of the students, the competition created a sense of community that encompassed merchants, businesses and individual consumers.

Best of MSU – Tip Sheet When do we publish? Who should run? Why should they run?

Talking points and FAQ • Voting starts on February 1st, all advertisers who want their names to be listed on the ballot when voting opens should turn in an agreement by January 27th • After voting students will receive an email with coupons from participating advertisers. In order to be included on the coupon page you must turn in your agreement by January 20th • Voting will end on March 2nd, after coming back from Spring Break we will have the winners of each category, AEs will then contact them about running in the “Best of MSU” Edition (if they are not already committed) • First 5 clients to commit will receive $200 off an AdRax during the month of voting! Location will be based upon availability Timeline • January 20th – Agreement due in order to be included on coupon page • January 27th – Agreement due in order to be listed on the ballot when voting begins • February 1st – Voting Starts • March 2nd – Voting Ends (all committed advertisers must have run their 3 ads by now) • March 12th – AEs find out winners of each category; sell to winners who didn’t commit • March 19th – Copy of winner’s listing due • March 26th – Space Deadline for Best of MSU • March 28th – Copy Deadline for Best of MSU • April 2nd – G&S and Payment Deadline for Best of MSU • Friday April 6th – Best of MSU Publishes Scheduling the ad • Follow normal daily paper deadlines • Copy Reference = Best of MSU: Copy to Follow • Email Colleen for any pricing overrides Looking for Another Reason to Advertise?

The winners of the “Best of MSU” will have their names published in a spread in the Welcome Week paper!

---------DO NOT FAX--------

Best Of 2012 Promo - Back.ai

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12 | TH E STAT E N E WS | WE D NES DAY, FEBRUARY 1 , 2 01 2 | STATE N E WS.COM

By Marina Csomor csomorma@msu.edu THE STATE NEWS ■■

In this city, the opinions of college students matter.

First and foremost, East Lansing is a college town. It’s a spot on Michigan’s map that is made up of more than 47,000 university students who not only work but also play in the area.

And because of your status as a local student, you are important to nearby shops and restaurants.

They want your approval, your business and most importantly, your recommendation. The continued patronage of you and your friends is what keeps their service in motion.

Although not everyone plans on staying in East Lansing for the long-haul, as a student at MSU, you’re in town at least for a year or two. And that’s just enough time to pledge allegiances to some favorite local hot spots.

There are so many places you visit in a week. When you wake up and are in need

of some fuel, there’s an eatery you stop by to get an ingredient-loaded omelet or a tower of pancakes. When an impending exam forces you to pull an all-nighter, there’s a coffee shop you love that provides you with the perfect atmosphere and necessary caffeine.

You know the best place to grab a burger and fries or find a sweet treat to-go. Whether it be the nicest residence hall or a prime apartment, you know where the living is fine.

From on campus to downtown to off the beaten path, East Lansing is full of sites to eat and drink and shop. But you don’t go just anywhere. There’s a method to your madness. Your route has been carefully calculated to include only the best businesses of the bunch.

Each year, The State News offers you the opportunity to show the community these worthy places. This is your chance to award East Lansing’s most deserving businesses.

This is your chance to show the city some love.

The right to vote is a freedom cherished by Americans. Although you might not always know every detail about the latest judge up

for reelection or the newest proposal on the ballot, you do know about where to go to get the best service or the cheapest cheese pizza.

These are choices you make every day.

Students now have the chance to exercise their freedom and share their wisdom on a familiar topic. Beginning today, you have a chance to vote for everything from your favorite unique business to student organization to free festival to hidden gem.

And yet despite this opportunity, not everyone takes part in their inalienable right.

Don’t assume other people know what truly is East Lansing’s best. Maybe your classmates have been misguided or haven’t ever been enlightened at all. Share with them where you go to purchase the latest music and cutest clothes, to get that revelatory haircut and to experience the best nightlife.

Last year, the winners included everything from the corporate to the local. Urban Outfitters was named the best clothing store, Chandler Crossing earned the title of greatest off-campus housing, Student Bookstore was named the best place to find MSU merchandise, and Big Daddy Taxi was determined the best company for cab transpor-

tation, simply to name a few.

These businesses were voted the best of the best. But this was a decision with which not every East Lansing resident was satisfied. Some felt those placed at the top were not deserving of their titles.

2012 marks your turn to decide who reigns supreme. This year is an election year, and you will be able to set the story straight.

Visit statenews.com/bestof and vote for at least 20 of the categories in order for your opinion to be recognized. An e-mail with downloadable coupons will be sent to you after your choices have been submitted.

Remember, you can vote for the same business in more than one category.

The polls open today, and voting lasts until March 2. See the winners revealed when 2012’s Best of MSU Awards are published April 6.

Make sure your favorite mom-and-pop deli, inexpensive bookstore, friendly bartender or entertainment venue don’t go overlooked. Show your support and cast your vote. Give some recognition to the places that always leave you satisfied.

Stand up for your favorites.

2B The Best of MSU | TH E STATE NE WS | FR IDAY, A PR IL 6, 2012 | STATE N E WS.COM

DRUMROLL,

PLEASE

We asked and you answered the call for our annual The Best of MSU Awards. We were impressed by how many of you logged on and took the time to give your favorite places, people and things in the area a shout out.

This section features the businesses that rose to the top after you cast more than 35,000 votes in more than 50 categories.

These businesses are awarded a commemorative certificate to place proudly on their walls and, of course, full bragging rights... until next year, that is.

Thanks for making your voices heard in this yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Best of MSU Awards, and to those voted this yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s top businesses... congratulations!

Sincerely,

The Best of MSU

STAT E NE WS.CO M | T HE STAT E N EWS | F RIDAY, A PRIL 6 , 2012 |

DRINKS

TABLE OF

CONTENTS FOOD

Biggby

5

Bravo Cucina Italiana

4

Brody Square

5

Buffalo Wild Wings

5

El Azteco Golden Harvest

4 5

Grand Traverse Pie Company

5

Jimmy John’s

5

Menna’s Joint

5

MSU Dairy Store

5,9

No Thai!

4

Outback Steakhouse

5

The Peanut Barrel

5,6

P.F. Chang’s

5

Pizza House

4

Sansu Sushi

4,5

3B

STORES CONT.

Crunchy’s

6

Meijer

7

Harper’s Brewpub

6

Quality Dairy

7

Los Tres Amigos

6

Student Book Store

7,9

The Peanut Barrel

6

Urban Outfitters

7

Rick’s

6

Verizon

7

Rum Runners

6 LIVING SERVICES

Bronze Bay Tanning

7

Douglas J Aveda Institute

7

Massage and Wellness

7

MSU Bikes Service Center

7

Recreational Sports

7

STORES

Brody Neighborhood

8

DTN Communities

9

OTHER MSU Dairy Store

5,9

MSU Federal Credit Union

9

MSU Main Library

9

NCG Cinemas

9

B/A Florist

7

The Record Lounge

9

Bed, Bath, & Beyond

8

The State News

9

Designer Shoe Warehouse

8

Student Book Store

7,9

Dick’s Sporting Goods

7

What Up Dawg?

9

Foods for Living

7

Goodwill

8

Hobby Lobby

8

3850 E. COLEMAN RD. | CHANDLERCROSSINGS.COM | 888.647.1038

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4B The Best of MSU | TH E STATE NE WS | FR IDAY, A PR IL 6, 2012 | STATE N E WS.COM FOOD Best Overall Restaurant Sansu Sushi 4750 Hagadorn Rd. • 517-333-1933 www.sansu-sushi.com The Jeons, owners of Sansu Sushi, have been in the restaurant industry for the last 35 years. Mrs. Jeon is always in, in the mornings making secret recipes for the sushi rice and blending our popular ginger dressing and mixing sauces before the start of business.

Best Mexican El Azteco 225 Ann St. • 517-351-9111 elazteco.me

Best Pizza Pizza House 4790 S. Hagadorn, Hannah Plaza 517-336-0033 www.pizzahouse.com Family owned and operated for more than 25 years. Great atmosphere with full bar, 24 beers on tap and 20 TVs to watch your favorite sporting event. Famous for awardwinning Chicago Deep Dish and traditional pizza! Also serving pasta, burgers, wings, selection of salads, shakes and desserts.

Plenty of parking in the Hannah Plaza. Dining room and delivery open until 4 am.

Best Overall Restaurant Sansu Sushi 4750 Hagadorn Rd. • 517-333-1933 www.sansu-sushi.com

Best Thai No Thai!

403 E. Grand River Ave. • 517-336-5555 www.nothai.com No Thai! is proud to serve the MSU community with fresh homemade dishes from our Grand River location. We also now offer delivery at nothai.com.

Best Italian Bravo! Cucina Italiana 2970 Towne Center Blvd. • 517-485-3779 BRAVO! specializes its Italian menu on a broad choice of fresh, made-to-order, authentic Italian food for lunch or dinner as well as creative, seasonal specials, Italian take-out and event catering.

The University Daily Kansan 2012 Marketing Plan At the beginning of the Spring semester of 2012 The University Daily Kansan as a media organization faced numerous challenges. We narrowed these challenges into three central categories and built strategies to address them:

Challenge #1 – Declining loyalty/readership in our daily print product.

In recent years it has become a greater challenge to get our target audience of students to make reading the daily print product into a habit. With smart phones and Wifi technology seemingly being used by all students on campus we got even more aggressive in marketing the product to them this past year:

*Enhanced distribution of all special sections: To draw new readers in we partnered with local apartment complexes for 10 different special sections throughout the course of the year.

As a staff we poly-­‐bagged 3,000 copies of each of these special sections and hung them on 3,000 apartment doors throughout Lawrence. This enhanced distribution allowed us to of course reach students living in these apartments but to also reach an older demographic that might not see our products daily. For all KU Men’s basketball home games our marketing staff passed out nearly 4,000 copies of that days paper complete with a poster produced by The Kansan for students at the game to hold up as the opposing lineups were introduced.

*Reaching out to new students from day one: For our new student orientation section Insider’s Guide we manned a table at 24 separate Summer New Student Orientation sessions. There we passed the section out to nearly 4,000 incoming freshmen as they were introduced to life in college. To ensure that they all saw the section we partnered with student housing to put a copy of Insiders Guide in each dorm room. For our Back to School special edition we again partnered with student housing who allowed us to hang a copy on the door of each dorm room so that as freshmen moved in our product would be the first thing that they saw. This allowed us from day one to build a relationship with freshmen that we hope will last all 4-­‐5 years that they’re in college.

*A more aggressive readership rewards program: We created an event called “King on the Hill” where selected readers caught reading The Kansan every Thursday would be treated as campus royalty complete with a crown and an assortment of gifts from local sponsors. Photos of them wearing the crown would then be published in our paper and across all of our social media sites to encourage others to make sure they were caught reading The Kansan as well.

*Enhanced distribution of weekend edition: To get as many eyes on our weekend product as possible we partnered with local hotels. Upon check-­‐in over 500 copies were available in each guest room. This allowed us to reach weekend visitors to the University including alums in town for home football games. For all home football games we bagged and hung an additional 200 copies on the doors of homes within a quarter mile radius of the football stadium where tailgating is prevalent.

Challenge#2 – Build usage/loyalty for digital products both old and new

In the Summer of 2012 The Kansan introduced a re-­‐design for its home page; Kansan.com which gave it a cleaner look and made it easier to navigate. At the same time we also introduced a re-­‐design of our mobile application. Earlier in the year we also launched a site known as LarryvilleKU, which allowed users especially those on their mobile phone to locate the closest bargains and drink specials to wherever they were in Lawrence. We also incorporated this site into The Kansan’s mobile app in mid-­‐August. We also needed to continue to grow followers on all of our social media accounts. All of these products required us to first create awareness and to then drive traffic to them:

*Kansan.com and Kansan mobile application: For our home page we focused on creating Top of the Mind awareness across the KU campus. We started with a half-­‐page full-­‐color ad in each day’s issue of The Kansan to alert our print readers of a re-­‐design for our home page. We used the same campaign on ads run on the KU bus routes and also for posters placed around campus to draw the attention of other students. For our mobile application we used all of these same tactics but also purchased table tents for all 138 tables at the Kansas Union dining centers. As students ate lunch everyday they had a table tent featuring an ad for our mobile application right in front of them.

*LarryvilleKU: This site was as mentioned earlier designed to let students know via their mobile device what food and drink specials were available near them. Therefore we created top of the mind awareness for the site in the Lawrence nightlife. 5,000 drink coasters were printed and distributed to local restaurants/ bars along with 7,000 wrist-­‐bands for bars/nightclubs. Both the drink coasters and the wrist-­‐bands promoted the site but also gave instructions on how to download the Kansan mobile app that featured it. Hundreds of posters were also printed and hung up all across campus and downtown promoting LarryvilleKU. And finally consistent house ad advertising in The Kansan helped reinforce the brand along with stickers in the windows of businesses who participated in LarryvilleKU.

*Social Media: As a great number of students use social media as a breaking news feed we looked to grow our follower base. We ran numerous contests giving away tickets to our followers and promoted them in multiple mediums. For LarryvilleKU we gave away eight separate $50 gift cards to students who reported on news around town while using the hash-­‐tag; #larryvilleku. These eight winners were then put into a grand prize drawing for a new iPad.

Challenge#3 – Enhance the overall brand/public perception of The Kansan

In addition to marketing our products we wanted to brand The Kansan as an organization that is fun and gives back to its readers. We used a few different tactics for this:

*Event marketing: We co-­‐branded concerts such as the Ying Yang Twins at local nightclubs all throughout 2012. For the 100th anniversary of The Kansan we partnered with one local night club for a retro party encouraging students to dress up in garb like the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s. And we also hosted a Housing fair on-­‐campus with over fifteen separate apartment complexes and drawing thousands of students to look for new housing options. And as KU’s beloved mascot turned 100 we published a 68 page all-­‐inclusive special section celebrating the history and influence of the Jayhawk.

We also partnered with the highest trafficked location on campus; The Kansas Union, for a 100th birthday celebration.

*Letting our readers voice be heard: As part of KU men’s basketball tradition before every home men’s basketball game KU students hold up a poster published by The Kansan. For the final ever KU-­‐Missouri men’s basketball game we offered students a chance to create the design and win an iPad in the process. 4,000 students held up the winning poster to an audience of millions. We also published our annual “Top of the Hill” section where thousands of votes were cast by students reflecting what they felt were the best businesses both at KU and in Lawrence. To encourage their votes we oran a sweepstakes for a $50 Visa gift card. All a student had to do to enter was complete a “Top of the Hill” survey online.

Conclusion: At the end of the day all of the above tactics were extremely successful for us. Our newspaper return rates remained steady throughout the year and in the case of some days like Thursday actually dramatically declined as more readers checked us out daily. Enhanced distribution of our special sections helped grow special section revenue throughout the year. And our mobile app strategies quadrupled our total downloads. But overall students were left with a more positive perception of The Kansan. Not only as a media organization that would provide them relevant news daily but also an organization that paid back its loyal readers.

The University Daily Kansan 2012 Marketing Plan Schedule

January

*Distribution of Kansan at all men’s basketball games begins (continues through March and then begins again in October through December). *Readership rewards begin (continue through Summer)

February

*KU-­‐Mizzou poster series contest *LarryvilleKU site launches, house ads and poster campaign begins *100 Years of the Jayhawk section publishes, 100 Years of the Jayhawk birthday party

March

*Kansan bracket bash contest

April

*LarryvilleKU Twitter contest *Apartment Fest

May-­‐July (Summer session)

*Insiders Guide publishes *Attendance at all 24 New Student Orientation sessions, distribution of Insider’s Guide

August

*Back to School publishes, placed on every dorm room door *Back to School party at Granada nightclub *Revamped Kansan.com launches *New Kansan mobile app launches with LarryvilleKU *Bus, Poster and print ad campaigns begin for revamped Kansan.com and mobile app *Table tent campaign for Kansan mobile app begins

September

*Added distribution of Kansan weekend edition to hotels and football tailgates begins *King on the Hill readership rewards begins (continues through December) *LarryvilleKU wristbands and coasters distributed to Lawrence bars/restaurants

October

*Homecoming edition publishes, Kansan homecoming float

November

*Kansan 100th Anniversary Retro Party

December

*Top of the Hill publishes

Increasing readership/ maintaining reader loyalty

Presence at New Student Orientation – We began what we hoped would be a 4-­‐5 year relationship with new students by setting up a table at all 24 New Student Orientation sessions this summer. At these sessions we passed out copies of our Insiders Guide product to o ver 4,000 incoming freshmen and transfer students. In addition we used these sessions as an opportunity to have incoming freshmen download our mobile app at our table and in return registered them to win a new Kindle fire. Tactics like this helped us grow our app downloads by over 400% in 2012.

Increased distribution of all products – To increase the reach of all of our

products we did multiple partnerships. For o ur Back to School edition we poly-­‐bagged an extra 6,000 copies hanging them on the doors of every dorm room on campus and on 3,000 apartment doors off-­‐campus. And for all of our o ther special sections w e poly-­‐bagged and hung copies on these same apartment doors. W ith the launch of our new weekend edition we provided nearly 500 copies every w eekend to local hotels to be placed in the rooms so that weekend visitors to the University would be greeted with our product immediately upon check-­‐in. For all home football games we distributed 200 additional copies to tailgates near the stadium and to fans on their way to the game.

For home men’s basketball games one of the traditions here at KU is for the nearly 4,000 students in the crowd to hold up a newspaper as the opposing team’s starting line-­‐up is announced. To ensure that our paper would be the one used we passed out copies of it to the thousands o f students as they w aited in line for all home games and included within was a specially designed poster for each game that also helped brand The Kansan as either CBS or ESPN broadcast our home games to millions of viewers across the nation. Tactics like all of the above helped us maintain/lower our return rates and reach new demographics of readers.

Readership rewards – Once we reached new readers we wanted to do everything possible to keep them using our products as w ell as retaining the loyal readers that we already had. To help with this we did an enhanced version of our Readership rewards program called “King on the Hill”. In this program w eekly we partnered with local advertisers as we looked on campus for readers of our daily paper. Selected readers w ere then rewarded with prizes from these advertisers such as free Ray Ban sunglasses from a local eye d octor. In addition these readers had their picture taken wearing a crown and we posted these pictures in house-­‐ads congratulating them and through social media blasts on our Facebook and Twitter accounts. Tactics like this and our outreach to freshmen and off-­‐ campus readers w ere major factors in our maintaining our return number levels and in some cases such as on Thursdays dramatically lowering them.

Event Marketing

100 Years of the Jayhawk Birthday Party – 2012 was the 100th

anniversary of our University’s famous mascot. To help celebrate it we turned February 2 7th into all-­‐day event around campus. W e published in our paper that day a 64 page special section reflecting on the legacy of the Jayhawk and also poly-­‐bagged and hung the section o n 3,000 off-­‐campus doors. We set up tables across campus that d ay in the highest trafficked areas, distributing birthday cupcakes to students as they passed by as well as copies of the section. And finally we threw a 100th birthday party for the Jayhawk at the Kansas Union. At this event over 1,000 people attended and were given copies of our “100 Years of the Jayhawk” special section. They also ate a special 100th birthday cake, put their name in a raffle for prizes from KU Bookstores and had their picture taken with the University’s new 100th anniversary mascot .

Kansan Back to School Party and Retro Party – 2012 also represented the 100th anniversary of The Kansan publishing daily. We partnered with “The Cave” a local night club and threw a Retro party attended by nearly 6 00 students. Different rooms at the club had themes across decades from the last 100 years including the rocking 80’s (pictured here on the right) and all those attending received a copy of our Retro special section. In addition for Back to School we partnered with another local club, The Granada, for a back to school party also attended by nearly 600 students.

Both of these parties helped us continue to brand ourselves with our current readers and attract new ones as well.

Kansan Apartment Fest – We partnered w ith the University and brought 16 different apartment complexes onto campus in the Spring for our 2nd annual Apartment Fest. Nearly 1,000 students stopped by and were able to find clarity on what options were available for them to live off-­‐campus.

This w as fantastic branding not only for us but also for all of the apartment complexes that we work with.

Connecting better with our audience as a whole

Kansas-­‐Missouri Basketball poster contest – For the final ever KU-­‐Missouri basketball game w e created a contest where students could submit a proposed design either online or in person at our offices for the poster that w ould be published in our paper and held up by students during the game. The student w ho submitted the w inning design (see below) was awarded a new iPad and also saw their design published in all of our papers for Friday 2/24 and also held up by 4,000 students at the game (see bottom right). Contests like this went a long way towards helping our student readers feel that their voice was heard d aily.

Jayhawk Buddy System partnership – We

provided free half-­‐page advertising every Thursday this past Fall to the Jayhawk Buddy system. It encourages students to make responsible choices while they are out at night w ith friends. W e also incorporated the Buddy System’s safe bus routes onto the LarryvilleKU portion o f our mobile app (see below). Wherever students were in town late at night, they could find the closest bus route on their smart phone. While this organization had next to no money to spend w ith us, we provided these marketing tools free of charge as we felt their services were invaluable to students. In return on all of their buses every Thursday-­‐Saturday they distributed copies of The Kansan’s Weekend edition.

Marketing our digital products

The new Kansan.com – On August 16th we launched the new version of our home page; Kansan.com. All throughout the Fall we ran a minimum of a half-­‐page ad daily alerting readers of our print product that Kansan.com had a new look and new features. We continued this campaign with advertising on campus buses and with posters placed in high traffic areas all throughout campus. We also drew awareness to our site through mouse pads in front of all of the computers at all three campus libraries (see below) .

conjunction with the launch of our new w ebsite, our student digital

designer completely revised our mobile app to make it easier to use. In

addition he added new features such as the daily Sudoku answers and the ability to submit comments to be printed in the print edition’s “Free for All Column”. These features instantly created better synergy between both our print and digital products. We ran a heavy house ad campaign with ads

promoting the Sudoku answers (see right) and Free for All submissions right below the actual print versions of these. We also purchased table tents

for all of the tables at both locations of the Kansas Union (see bottom right). This allowed us to grab the attention of the thousands of diners who Promotion of the new Kansan mobile phone app – In

frequent the Union’s restaurants daily. These tactics and others were quite successful as w e grew our Kansan mobile app download numbers from just over 2,000 in January to over 8,000 by the end of December.

Marketing our digital products -­‐ LarryvilleKU

Brand awareness – In early February we launched LarryvilleKU, a web-­‐ site/ mobile application that took full advantage of smart phone technology. It allowed users to see what bargains, events and drink specials were in their immediate proximity. In early August w e incorporated LarryvilleKU into The Kansan mobile app. To market LarryvilleKU w e used multiple tactics including traditional print campaigns and posters in high-­‐traffic areas on campus but also in downtown Lawrence. All of the posters and ads featured QR codes that would take interested parties to w here theu could download the mobile application of the web-­‐site. One of the other features of LarryvilleKU is the ability to instantly have your tweets appear on an interactive map of town. To grow awareness o f this we ran a contest where if users would tweet about events around town and use the hashtag; #larryvilleku they would automatically be registered to w in one of eight separate $50 gift cards to a popular local restaurant. And all of those who w on a gift card were entered into a grand prize drawing for an iPad.

We also partnered with local bars, nightclubs and restaurants to brand LarryvilleKU. Since the product was designed in large part as a guide to KU/ Lawrence nightlife we looked to promote it in those establishments. For bars and restaurants we purchased 5,000 drink coasters (see right) featuring branding for the site and a call to action to download The Kansan mobile app that featured it. And for bars and nightclubs w e purchased 7,000 wristbands (see below) again featuring the site’s logo and a call to action to download The Kansan mobile app. Finally one of the most popular restaurants in Lawrence, 23rd Street Brewery partnered with us to create a special microbrew for their restaurant called LarryvilleLyte which they sold through 2012. These tactics combined with the other tactics we used to market The Kansan mobile app were major factors in out growing downloads of the app from 2,000 at the beginning o f the year to 8,000 at the end.

The University Star Readership Promotion Schlitterbahn and Texas State University—San Marcos In the spring of 2012, The University Star at Texas State University—San Marcos, were generously offered several season and day passes to Schlitterbahn, the greatest water park ever, according to most in the San Antonio/New Braunfels/Austin, Texas area. Being a water park, and in the hot Texas summer days, it is quite the popular place for not only the local residents, but also for tourists.

Schlitterbahn personnel outdid themselves and sent us over $7,000 worth of season passes for the 2012 season. The staff at The Star had to figure out what exactly we should do with all of these passes.

For the summer season, the newspaper publishes once every two weeks, and readership decreases as the students return home during that time. However, multiple freshman and transfer orientations occur on campus, and we thought to take advantage of the increase of potential new readers.

It began with a front-page ad enticing students with “Free Schlitterbahn Passes!”

All they had to do was read the current issue, find our offices on campus (which can actually be quite difficult if one is not familiar), and answer a trivia question about an article in the paper.

The promotion was extremely successful as many students came to answer trivia questions about that week’s issue. So many in fact, over 50 had to be turned away during the first wave of trivia questions. All season and day passes to the famous water park were dispersed in what seemed like record time, and a particular buzz about the newspaper was savored for the following weeks, and into the fall semester.

Due to the success of this promotion, we excitedly accepted another offer from the water park for another round of season and day passes.

Read today's paper, then come to our office and answer a trivia question about any of the articles to win...

Schlitterbahn day passes!

*while supplies last